Ukrainian paramedic Taira described Russian captivity and where she was kept

ALYONA MAZURENKO — FRIDAY, 1 JULY 2022, 10:56 P.M.

Ukrainian paramedic Yulia Paievska (Taira) said that the Russian occupiers kept her in a small cell in the Donetsk Pre-Trial Detention Centre along with 21 other women.

Source: Yulia Paievska in an interview with Deutsche Welle

Quote: "Recently I was kept in the Donetsk Pre-Trial Detention Centre. A lot of our prisoners remain there. They treat us terribly. They feed more or less, it will not be possible to die of hunger. But during the last week, they didn't even give us soap.

There are 22 women in the cell; the cell is three by six metres, ten beds. Other [prisoners] also did not have any information about [their] families and children. Their psychological state was simply terrible, but most of them held up very well.

They were Ukrainian women from the ranks of the Armed Forces and the National Guard, there were girls from Azov, and there were also civilians. There is a ‘filtering’ system, that is, they take civil servants and check them for cooperation with the ‘occupation forces.’"

Details: According to the paramedic, the occupiers accused her in line with a "shooting" article: "I was very surprised. I said that I fulfilled my oath; I gave an oath to the people of Ukraine and acted on the territory of my state, in Mariupol. To which they said that it was the territory of the DPR [self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic.]"

Taira said that the occupiers told her that she was already dead and it was better for her to kill herself. 

The invaders also used physical and psychological violence. 

In addition, according to Taira, a medic in the 7th month of pregnancy is being held captive by the occupiers. 

The paramedic believes that, first of all, it is necessary to free the wounded and women from captivity. 

What preceded: 

The Russian invaders captured Taira in mid-March in Mariupol.

Shortly after Taira's capture, Russian propaganda media published a video of her. In the video, the propagandists of the Russian Federation call Paievska "a member of the Azov battalion", although she is not a military servicewoman, but a civilian volunteer paramedic.

In May, the Associated Press published a video of Taira taken in Mariupol before she was captured.

On 17 June, it became known that Taira had been released from captivity.